


Blue Petals

by Jinxitty



Series: Critical Role Oneshots and Drabbles [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, its 3am and i'm writing fanfiction, no idea where this takes place in the timeline, spoilers for caleb's past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26007175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinxitty/pseuds/Jinxitty
Summary: It's 3am and my mind told me to write angst. I'm not the greatest when it comes to angst but I'm trying my best here. Basically it's the Hanahaki disease and the ending is sad.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast
Series: Critical Role Oneshots and Drabbles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066961
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29





	Blue Petals

Caleb hasn't felt well for a couple days now. He doesn’t feel sick, moreso feels like there’s a lump in his chest that just causes discomfort. As well as feeling like he has a frog in his throat. It is… very unusual to say the least.

He only mentioned it to Caduceus and Beau as those two seem to notice anything going wrong without actively checking. Caduceus suggested some tea, Beau mentioned it could be Caleb needing to throw up the bad stuff. She offered to punch him in the gut to help, he kindly rejected.

It’s odd but the feeling seems to weigh more heavily on him when he sees Jester. When he talks to her and her voice chimes like bells, the weight deepens. When he just watches her move and the sun or moon or whatever source of light sparkles on her skin, he has to clear his throat a few times due to something feeling lodged.

It wasn’t until the end of a battle that he realized something was very wrong. It was just some bandits, not the ones that they’ve come across what, three times now? No, other bandits that were more of assholes. Caleb was knocked down by the last remaining bandit as an effort to take out the main magic user. When Caleb hit the ground, he felt a coughing fit take him. He covered his mouth, doing his best to think of techniques to end the fit. Instead, Caleb felt something hit his hand as the fit ceased. Moving to look, his eyes widened when he saw blue flower petals.

Fjord had called out to see if Caleb was okay, to which the wizard replied with a question of if any of the bandits had used magic or some sort. There was a no and Caleb grew more confused before another coughing fit hit him and Nott ran to his side to try and give him company as well as pat his back to help. The other members also joined his side in time to see enough petals to cover a whole rose had come from Caleb’s coughing. The group was silent before panic set in.

Nott was yelling, asking if there were any potions to give Caleb, Fjord and Beau were trying to come up with logical explanations for what was happening, Caduceus was trying to calm them all down, Yasha was silent yet had a serious and concerned expression, and Jester was kneeling next to Caleb to heal him.

As soon as the Cure Wounds touched Caleb, another coughing spat happened, this time the petals had blood. More panic came as Jester and Caduceus both began to cast Sending to Essek for help as the group agreed that he would be the most knowledgeable in what was happening.

Caleb himself tried to stay calm and figure out what was happening but he has never heard of a thing like this. Magic is the only logical solution that came to mind but when was the last time they fought a magic user? Hell, what magic would this even be? He’s never heard of this spell and--

Caleb was snapped out of his thoughts at Fjord asking if he’s okay enough to do a Teleportation Circle to the Xhorhaus. Caleb gave a shaky nod as he fiddled with his spellbook and shakily drew the runes, pausing now and then as more coughing took him.

Before long, everyone found themselves back in their house and Caleb began to fall, stopping when Jester grabbed him. Caleb was going to thank the beautiful tiefling but wasn’t able to as more coughing hit him, causing most of the group to miss the pounding that came from the front door followed by the familiar chime at the bells that signaled when the door opened. 

Caleb felt someone help stand him up as he was led to his room. He was placed on the bed as he noticed Essek had shown and began to try and see what was happening. The rest of the group was ushered out to give him space as Essek started muttering theories under his breath. One such theory stood out when Essek mentioned “The Hanahaki Curse”.

Caleb felt like he had tunnel vision after that. He remembered way back when Astrid mentioned some fairy tale of a curse that caused a victim of unrequited love to cough up flower petals. Caleb and Eodwulf had laughed and joked about it due to how ridiculous it sounded. It still sounds ridiculous. 

But then again, this is just Caleb’s luck isn’t it? A man with such a tragic past. A man with red soaking his ledger. A man that deserves pain and torment and everything along those lines. It’d make sense that the one good thing he has would be what ends up killing him.

That’s when Essek made a comment about being able to remove it. Caleb was ready to immediately agree until he found out the conditions. All feelings for the person that his unrequited love is for will vanish. The other solution is for his feelings to be returned but he knows that would never happen. 

Essek left the room to give Caleb time to think as well as inform the group, promising Caleb he’d leave out the details of unrequited love as Caleb couldn’t bear them trying to help only for the sapphire to feel guilt at being unable to save him.

The sapphire. Jester. If Caleb does this then he’ll lose feelings for her. He won’t think about her beautiful accent. He won’t think about how much she makes him smile and laugh. He won’t think about how happy he feels when he’s able to return the favor and make her laugh. His chest felt more tight as he thought about these things. Caleb couldn’t help but give a self-loathing laugh. Caleb has always been a selfish man deep down, surely the group won’t miss him too much after he’s gone.

Before he could think more, Essek came back in the room, followed by the rest of the group. All asking if Caleb is okay among countless other questions. Then Nott piped up with Caleb having to get the petals removed. Fjord, Jester, and Beau agreed. The three of them state that Caleb needs to get better and that he can’t leave the group. Caduceus and Yasha looked at Caleb as if they knew something was being hidden from the rest of the group, but Caleb would never tell them. He can’t tell them. He can’t allow Jester to be sad and feel guilty.

Jester’s voice came to Caleb the loudest out of everyone. She pleaded with him, pleaded with Essek to save him. “Fix him. Fix him!” She exclaimed as she looked so full of sadness, Caleb couldn’t bear it. Caleb agreed. He asked Essek to do this. And the drow man did.

Weeks passed and everything was okay. Caleb was okay. Now and then someone would joke about Caleb coughing up blue petals when he was knocked unconscious in combat, to which he’d roll his eyes and sarcastically laugh. It was usually Beau and Fjord that would do the joking around as Caleb walked in the front with them.

Caduceus was the only one to noticed the fiery red petals that came from Jester as she tried to hide her coughing, but he had already promised her he would keep it a secret.

**Author's Note:**

> Also crossposting on Tumblr, account: https://jinxitty.tumblr.com/post/626956256812351488/blue-petals-widojest
> 
> Thank you all for supporting. I hope you're all having a good day/evening/night/timezone and remember to love each other and try to love yourself.


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